The technology utilized to store, manage, and consume power in electrically-powered vehicles has been improving steadily. Indeed, electrically-powered vehicles (hereinafter electric vehicles) are now competitive with fuel-powered vehicles on many performance parameters, and typically surpass fuel-powered vehicles in measures of efficiency, environmental cleanliness, and operating noise levels. This has led to an increase in the popularity of electric vehicles and hence to a steady increase in the number of such vehicles on the road and in use at any given time.
As electrically-powered vehicles continue to increase in number and popularity, the infrastructure used to charge such vehicles, such as electricity distribution systems, will become increasingly stressed. Local electrical substations are part of larger electricity generation, transmission and distribution systems (also referred to as electrical grids) where electrical power may be generated and transmitted to a local area serviced by the electrical substation. An electrical substation servicing an area may be stressed when numerous electric vehicles are charging simultaneously under certain conditions in the affected area. Thus, for example, when power draw on the grid increase to an unusual level, such as during periods of high temperature, the additional draw caused by charging numerous electric vehicle batteries may exacerbate an already existing infrastructure load problem.
Indeed, ground-level ambient air temperatures frequently exceed 100° F. for prolonged periods of time in the American Southwest during summer. Under these types of conditions, especially in urban and residential areas, large amounts of electrical energy are consumed by climate control systems for the cooling of residences, businesses, non-profit and government facilities. An additional load caused by a large number of electric vehicles being charged could overstress the already fragile grid, bring local substations, and consequently the grid, to a point of failure.
Thus, it is an object underlying certain implementations of the described principles to provide a system for efficiently and effectively adjusting the charging of individual vehicles based on vehicle history and projected vehicle usage, in part to avoid the above-noted problems where applicable. However, while this is an object underlying certain implementations of the invention, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to systems that solve the problems noted herein. Moreover, the inventors have created the above body of information for the convenience of the reader and expressly disclaim all of the foregoing as prior art; the foregoing is a discussion of problems discovered and/or appreciated by the inventors, and is not an attempt to review or catalog the prior art.